Research Department

Area of Research

Biography

Pere Puigserver is a Professor of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School. His laboratory is based in the Department of Cancer Biology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, located in the Center for Life Sciences Boston (CLSB).

Dr. Puigserver received his B.S. in Biological Sciences and Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of Illes Balears, Spain. His graduate work focused on mitochondrial energetics using in-vitro and in-vivo approaches, and included research at the University of Stockholm. He pursued postdoctoral training in molecular and cellular biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. In 2002, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Cell Biology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In 2006, he was recruited back to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School to continue his research program in cell metabolism.

Research

Nutrient Sensing, Mitochondrial Biology and Cancer Metabolism

The Puigserver Laboratory investigates broad aspects of fundamental metabolic and energetic processes in mammals that are necessary for cell survival and specific biological function. We focus on the molecular mechanisms by which mammalian cells sense, communicate, and respond to nutrients.

Studies from our group have identified new basic and evolutionary conserved metabolic circuitries that involve nutrient signaling to gene expression programs associated with cellular metabolic reprogramming. Components of these circuitries are dysregulated in metabolic diseases, cancer, and age-associated diseases and represent therapeutic targets.

The Lab’s research program pursues fundamental biological and disease-relevant questions such as:

What are the molecular components that sense and transmit nutrient signals to reprogram mammalian cells?

What are the molecular components that sense signals to coordinate the supply of proteins for mitochondrial biogenesis, dynamics, and function?

What are the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms underlying metabolic reprogramming and plasticity in tumor cells?

The Puigserver Lab’s research combines and applies a variety of biochemical, cellular, genetic, chemical biology, metabolic, and screening approaches both in cell culture and whole animals to identify the molecular mechanisms by which mammalian cells sense, communicate, and respond to nutrients. In particular, we have a close collaboration with the Broad Institute in chemical biology to identify small compounds involved in nutrient sensing and metabolic reprogramming in a variety of mammalian cell types.